Europe Threat Landscape Report 2026

Key Insights from Europe’s Cyber Threat Landscape

• Dark Web Activity Is Driven by Data Trade: Selling (66%) and sharing (29%) make up over 95% of dark web threat categories.
• Retail and E-Commerce Lead Dark Web Exposure: Retail Trade (14%) and Electronic Shopping (10%) account for nearly a quarter of dark web threats.
• France Leads Dark Web Targeting: France accounts for 23.76% of dark web threats, followed by the United Kingdom (11.07%) and Spain (10.74%).
• Stolen Data Is the Main Commodity: Data and database leaks represent nearly 70% of dark web threat types.
• Access Sales Create Follow-On Risk: Access listings account for 26.22%, often serving as entry points for ransomware or deeper compromise.
• The UK Dominates Ransomware Targeting: The United Kingdom accounts for 41.17% of ransomware threats in Europe.
• Ransomware Activity Is Highly Fragmented: Qilin leads at 16.8%, but 71.2% of activity comes from smaller or emerging groups.
• Finance and Banking Lead Phishing Attacks: Together, they account for nearly 25% of phishing activity.
• HTTPS Is Widely Used in Phishing: 89.1% of phishing pages use HTTPS, making the browser padlock unreliable as a trust signal.

Why This Report Matters

Europe’s cyber threat landscape shows that attackers use different methods depending on their objectives. Dark web activity focuses heavily on stolen data from consumer-facing sectors, ransomware operators prioritize high-value extortion targets, and phishing campaigns focus on finance, banking, government, and digital infrastructure.

This split means organizations need threat-specific visibility rather than a single regional risk model. Dark web monitoring, ransomware intelligence, phishing detection, and access security all play a key role in reducing exposure across Europe’s complex threat environment.

Take Action Now

• Dark Web Monitoring: Detect leaked data, credentials, and access listings targeting European organizations
• Ransomware Intelligence: Track Qilin, Akira, SafePay, and emerging ransomware groups
• Phishing Detection & Response: Identify HTTPS-based phishing, brand impersonation, and credential harvesting campaigns
• Access Security: Strengthen MFA, monitor exposed services, and reduce credential-based risk